American COP May/June 2010

HIGH TECH JIM DONAHUE CUTTING EDGE WIDGETs — AND OTHER NEW sTUFF. A C sk most any corrections officer, “What’s your biggest problem today?” and you might be as stunned as I was by the answer: cell phones in the hands of inmates. They’re worse than drugs, violence and all the other stuff I thought were the real problems inside a prison. Thanks to contraband cell phones, gangsters and drug dealers continue to wield about as much authority as when they were on the outside. Cell phones and SIM cards are brought into the prisons several ways; they’re sling-shot into the yard by other crooks, smuggled in by inmate visitors and contract employees, and unethical guards have even been known to bring them in and sell them to the inmates. So what can be done? the electronic serial number, the SIM card serial number and the carrier. The facility can then request the carrier to unsubscribe service on the contraband phones within the facility or get the same result via a court order. CJAM confines its scrutiny to only the area inside the facility while ignoring anything on the outside. A Texas facility housing 400 inmates had 132 cell phones found by the CPC; that’s only one facility. CJAM-CPC can be used for more than cell phones in prisons. Under- PumP uP ThE JAm cover narcotics officers, hostage negotiators and SWAT can all use the CPC to gather intelligence and control a scene — and only the criminal cell phones can be targeted while leaving known officer cell phones alone. As the name suggests CJAM can jam cell phones and they do just that, but outside the US. Sounds pretty straight forward and you might wonder why they don’t do it in the prisons and jails — well you’re gonna love this. ell Antenna Corporation has a cell phone detection and control system called CJAM-CPC (Cell Phone Controller). The system is custom fit to each corrections facility by the company’s engineers to monitor all of the radio frequencies used by cell phones for voice, text or data. A report is made showing every cell phone found, its assigned telephone number, I Spy Say What? T he Communications Act of 1934 was passed by Congress and was the impetus for the FCC (Federal Communications Commission). The Act made it illegal for anyone other than the federal government to interfere with radio transmissions. Cell phones are operated via radio transmissions so the Commish won’t allow prisons (or anyone) to jam them. The problem with the FCC’s logic is it’s already illegal to possess a cell phone in prison or jail. Jamming cell phones already deemed illegal shouldn’t be considered illegal in and of itself. It gets better. The FCC works with the CTIA which was founded in 1984 and originally called the Cellular Telephone Industries Association, but is referred to as The Wireless Association since 2004. CTIA is not the government, they’re a trade group representing the cellular/wireless industry and their primary function is to lobby the government for things that best support them — not you or me. Considering the cell phone industry is about a $300 billion market and they make an estimated three to four billion dollars from the illegal use of cell phones, there’s a powerful reason the CTIA has convinced the FCC to hold its ground on this issue. The CTIA and FCC claim their reasons for disallowing jamming is because they’re concerned law enforcement agencies will misuse the jamming equipment — stunning. number of states have sought a waiver for their prisons, but no dice. Some went to court and were shot down there, too. Maybe another way to get the carriers’ attention is to hold them criminally and civilly liable for anyone victimized as the result of illegal cell phone use. What about asset forfeiture? If it can be applied to ill-gotten gains of drug dealers and mobsters, why not apply it to cell phone carriers who continue to make huge profits from the illegal use of cell phones? Something must be done to more effectively thwart the ongoing illegal use of cell phones behind prison walls. Monitoring, collecting data and getting phones shut down is a good start and made possible thanks to CJAM-CPC, but let’s work at getting it to the next level — change the archaic 1934 law to reflect current technology and today’s society, and put an end to the problem all together. A.B. 560, the Safe Prisons Communications Act of 2009 was introduced and sponsored January 2009 by Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Tex). There are 50 other cosponsors to this bill and it was referred out to several subcommittees for review in March 2009. Since then it’s stalled in the black hole of subcommittee review. I strongly urge you and your union/association reps to lobby Congress and the Senate to get this bill moving. Cell phones in prisons are not only being used to further criminal enterprise benefiting the bad guys, but they’re all too often used to hurt witnesses, court officials, corrections officers, cops and our families. For more info: www.cellantenna.com or www.cjam.com. Your comments are always welcome: jim@sterlingyes.com a DemanD aCTion * 18 WWW.AMERICANCOPMAGAZINE.COM • MAY/JUNE 2010